Migrations are among the potentially most disruptive, costly and risky IT endeavors, which is why many organizations have delayed moving off Windows XP, even though support will end on April 8, 2014. Companies of all sizes are now grappling with how to clear the toughest roadblocks, including application compatibility; lost user productivity; repackaging, remediating and deploying apps; user training and support; and available time to perform migrations amidst other IT priorities.

The good news? Technologies and best practices are available to automate each phase of the migration planning and execution process, so companies can minimize security risks and user downtime while accelerating their Windows migration initiative. Quest Software’s David Kloba, general manager of endpoint systems management, and Michael Tweddle, director of product management for Windows management, have identified five best practices for removing the toughest roadblocks.